UK weather: Aerial views of River Severn flooding near Gloucester

Aerial footage shows major flooding in parts of Gloucestershire and around the
Bristol area, as severe flood warnings remain in place for the Midlands, the
south-west and Wales

2:16PM GMT 03 Jan 2014

Helicopter footage shows large areas of land covered with brown water in the latest floods in the south-west of the UK. The video shows scenes from above the A417 near Gloucester, where the River Severn has burst its banks, saturating surrounding fields and making roads impassable. The A417 has been closed off.

Britain is braced for the worst as a combination of high tides, heavy rains and strong winds are expected to bring yet more severe flooding to parts of the country.

"Exceptional" weather is expected across the whole of the UK and Northern Ireland, with a high risk of flooding expected around this morning's high tides posing a significant risk to coastal towns and villages.

The Environment Agency (EA) has issued 21 of the most serious severe flood warnings in place, issued when there is a threat to life or property, affecting the South West, Gloucestershire and Wales.

Homes in Newport were evacuated last night because of the risk of flooding as Wales prepared for the highest tides in 17 years, ITV News said.

The AA, which has attended 1,500 call-outs from those stranded due to floods since December 23, said some drivers were failing to heed warnings.

Darron Burness, head of the AA's flood rescue team, said: "Our patrols have seen it all in that time - including people ignoring road closure signs, blindly following their sat-nav or other drivers into deep water and 4x4 drivers naively thinking their car has amphibious qualities - and time and again they hear the same excuses that the driver didn't think the floods were very deep or that their car could deal with it."